Matovic Wants PS to Rule Out Cooperation with Voice and Form Pre-election Bloc

Bratislava, 27 March (TASR) - The 'Slovakia' party is calling on Progressive Slovakia (PS) to rule out any future cooperation with Voice-SD, plus Smer-SD or the extra-parliamentary Republic party at the PS congress on Saturday (28 March), said 'Slovakia' leader Igor Matovic in front of PS's headquarters on Friday. PS has already announced in advance that it intends to adopt a resolution at the congress ruling out post-election cooperation. Matovic also expects PS to rule out any cooperation with individuals who will run as candidates for Voice-SD. He called on PS to form a pre-election coalition of democratic parties. "First of all, people expect a clear resolution to be adopted at the congress tomorrow in which PS will rule out any cooperation with Voice-SD, and of course, with Smer-SD and Republic, that is a must," said Matovic, adding that this is what voters are demanding. He also demanded that PS should rule out any cooperation with people who will run on Voice-SD's slate. Matovic defended the need to rule out Voice by pointing to shady business dealings and "billions of euros siphoned off". Given concerns about votes being wasted, he expects PS to adopt a decision at Saturday's congress to form a pre-election coalition similar to the SDK one formed in 1998. This would include, in addition to PS, the Christian Democrats (KDH), Freedom and Solidarity (SaS), and the extra-parliamentary Democrats party. In reaction, PS has called on Matovic to adopt a resolution transforming his movement into a standard, stable party with democratic procedures, and to commit itself to not bring down a future government or attack his partners. "We believe that it would help if the 'Slovakia' party held a proper congress and such a resolution were adopted across the entire party," said PS leader Michal Simecka. At the same time, PS sent in advance a draft resolution that it intends to adopt at its congress. In it, the party plans to rule out post-election cooperation with Smer-SD, Voice-SD and Republic. According to the draft resolution, the party also wants to "seek to strengthen the bloc of constructive opposition parties — PS, SaS, KDH and Democrats". Simecka spoke about the possibility of a broad pre-election coalition in connection with reports on moves to raise the threshold for parties to enter parliament from 5 to 7 percent. Simecka said that he would offer the option of forming a coalition if such an increase were approved. However, the governing coalition has rejected preparing such a proposal. The opposition PS party will hold its congress in Trnava on Saturday. A new leadership should be elected at the congress. Simecka intends to defend his post as PS chairman. ko/df